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Your bottom line here is absurd. The kid is slow to read and react. Almost as slow as EJ. He has a quick/compact delivery but doesn't have the arm strength to put it on a rope and hit his man on the more difficult throws a QB is asked to make. He threw a game-sealing interception and you're calling it impressive because the team that intercepted it beat Pittsburgh and came close vs New England. That's absurd. The defense deserves all the credit for giving them a chance to win in Jacksonville. When his number was called, the dude faltered. If he's as good and as smart as you believe, he doesn't even throw that out route if he has any idea the closing speed Ramsey has. And Ramsey read it the whole way. I don't think the dude is ever going to be a long term starter. Decent number two with a chance at a Case Keenum 2017 type season is his ceiling. And every team has Darnold rated highly, despite his turnovers this year. Teams obviously see he has everything you want in a franchise guy and just needs coaching and experience at the pro level. I wish there was an emoji for doing a raspberry but since there isn't I'mma just type tthhhppppbbbtttthththt.

DJ is one of my favorite draft guys. He knows his stuff, he's worked for pro teams in the past. Depends on what happens in free agency, but with how strong this class is in front seven players, I can see them going DL and LB with their early picks. McDermott is probably dying for one of those sideline to sideline LBs like Edmunds or Smith or Evans or the Boise State kid. Based on Jeremiah's assessment, I'd say Rashaan Evans is a guy they probably have valued pretty highly given his versatility. And there are plenty of solid DTs like Vea, Payne, Hurst, etc. Just based on what they did in Carolina, (consistently added front seven players in the early rounds) I wouldn't be surprised if that's the route McBeane takes.

That's the Douggie Doughboy way. "I've got a lead, now let me play it scared and timid and hope like heck I can sneak out of here with a win." I still can't forgive him for his ridiculous game management of his first ever game as Bills HC. Bills up 21-20 over the Pats with around 4 minutes left in the 4th, EJ's first game, instead of trying to put together a time consuming drive, they continued to use the uptempo stuff, snapping the ball with 10+ seconds on the playclock. They used up less than a minute of clock, punted, Pats drove it down the field and kicked the game winner with 30 some seconds left.

Looking at all the contracts and money, as of right now, the easiest solution for the Bills is to hang on to Taylor for another year. He stands to make $10 mil next season. Alex Smith is looking at $14.5 mil for 2018. In order to get him you'd have to trade assets (either picks or players) and figure out whether or not he would restructure his deal or would want it kept the same if he knows he's entering a situation where he's likely going to hold down the fort for a season until their drafted QB is ready. Bradford got $21 mil for two years from Minnesota. If I had to guess I would imagine his injury history will cause teams to offer him something lower than that. But if he insists on a similar deal, would Buffalo wanna spend that type of money for a guy that has a hard time staying on the field and a guy that knows he has a new QB behind him waiting to take his spot. Keenum is up in the air. He could follow Shurmur to the Giants if they decide to move on from Eli. Minnesota may try to lock him down with a big contract, but they also haven't given up on Bridgewater from what I've read. So who knows how that will shake out. Plus, I don't believe Keenum is the type of QB that's going to find the type of success he had this season on another team. He's asked to manage the game and limit mistakes and not much else because their defense is outstanding. Put 14, 17, 20 points on the board and let the D do their thing while Keenum spends the rest of the game handing off and throwing shorter, high success routes. Now there are other UFA QBs available, but none of them are really much of an upgrade over Taylor. Josh McCown *might* be somewhat of an upgrade in terms of his FBI and willingness to push the ball down the field. But he's gonna be 39 heading into 2018 and I believe injury kept him from playing a full 16 games this past season. Bills did speak with McCown a couple years ago but that was with an entirely different staff. I'm not advocating they keep Tyrod. I'm just kind of connecting the dots and piecing together things said by Beane and based on what I've gathered, the guy wants to clear up as much cap space as possible because he knows they have plenty of spots to fill. Is he willing to give up picks or players to acquire Alex Smith who would carry a larger base salary and cap hit for 2018? And doing this knowing that Smith is only going to be the guy for one season, two at the most. I dunno, doesn't seem to fit their philosophy right meow. The rest of the UFA QB group leaves a lot to be desired and IMO none of them are an upgrade over Taylor. I do believe we have seen Taylor's ceiling. He's a guy that's capable of 3000 yards, 20 TDs, 550 rushing yards and a few rushing TDs. If they revamp the defense and get that unit playing at a top 10 or top 5 level, then Taylor could feasibly find himself in a Keenum-type situation where all he has to do is protect the ball and protect a lead and let the defense do their thing. That's a lot of if's, but... it's possible. In reality... we don't have a clue which direction this regime wants to go. They don't seem sold on Taylor but he doesn't break the bank on them, allowing them to sign FAs and have $$ for their draft picks. Does Daboll come in and say, "I see what Taylor does and I can work with that, in fact, I can get more out of him." Or, will he be more inclined to go with a rookie QB, QBs that he's likely more familiar with having just finished a season in the NCAA. Too many questions! Speculation! What's gonna happen?! Hurry up March!

You make good points, sir. Keenum definitely benefits from Diggs and Thielen as both receivers are very craft route runners and have a knack for gaining separation. That Thielen dude is outstanding. Crazy to think he went undrafted. I wonder how players like that fall through the cracks. And yeah, Diggs is another guy who wasn't at the top of anyone's board as they got him in the fifth round in 2015. They also have Treadwell, their first rounder from 2016, however, he's amassed a total of 21 receptions and 215 yards through two seasons where he's played in 25 total games. Don't know if his FBI isn't great and he isn't understanding route concepts and how to read and react to certain defenses but you'd think the first rounder would be the teams top guy and not the undrafted free agent. As for the Giants, IMO, and I think this is probably a widely shared opinion, that team just flat out quit on McAdoo at some point during the season. I watched a few Giants games this season and it really looked like players were just going through the motions. With McAdoo out, and (presumably) Shurmur coming in, that could revitalize the team and possibly bring Eli back up to a higher level of play. If Keenum follows Shurmur, I think in that situation I would say he has a decent chance to NOT be the next Matt Cassel as he'd be throwing to OBJ, Shephard, Engram, etc. But even with that, I see Keenum as a QB who needs a strong supporting cast and an offense that knows how to maximize his abilities, and hide his limitations. Also doesn't hurt that Keenum has a great defense capable of shutting teams down. I'm sure the QB carousel will be spinning this off-season and who knows where these dudes wind up but it's definitely been an interesting season. The whole "you can't win without a franchise QB" argument seems to have taken a hit. I'm not saying you DON'T need a franchise guy, but three of the final four teams have the following at QB: a first-round super inconsistent QB who has to play in a system that makes things easy for him and relies on the run and strong defense. A third-round backup who had one outstanding season and then bounced around to a couple different teams, never able to hold down the starting gig and then wind up back where he was originally drafted as the #2 in a high-powered offense and a pretty speedy/efficient defense. And then there's the undrafted Keenum who got tossed back and forth between the Texans and Rams for the first five years of his career, was inconsistent as the Rams starter in 2016 and has now become a wonderboy in Minnesota. Brees, Ryan, Roethlisberger, etc. have all been eliminated from the playoffs by teams led by QBs who no one would ever willingly choose for their team if they had to pick between those guys and the franchise dudes who are currently planning their golf trips. Ramble ramble. Go Bills. Do something cool. Like... find THE guy at QB, hope Daboll isn't any worse than Dennison and get back to the playoffs and you know, like, win one... or two... or three... or four and SUPERR BOWWWWLLWLWLWLWLLWLWL... it's been a long day

I really feel like Keenum is the next Matt Cassel. Has one solid season, the Vikings (or another team) will hand him a big contract and he'll fall back into obscurity and mediocre play. Pat Shurmur is supposedly taking the Giants HC job, would he have Keenum follow? I dunno. Keenum strikes me as the type of QB that needs a really strong supporting cast around him. He's benefited from a tough defense all season and receivers that just simply get open. They don't have the greatest running game but they'll be better when they have Cook back. Giants don't have much of a running game or defense at the moment. And who knows if Shurmur is going to wanna work with Eli or what. The way Beane has discussed things in regards to building a team, I don't know if I see them shelling out a decent chunk of change for a bridge QB like Bradford or Smith. And what says those guys will wanna be here under the premise of, "Yeah, you're the guy until the rookie is ready." Surely Smith believes he can start and be effective for a few more years. Bradford, I actually read he had contemplated retirement after this last injury. Word was is he's just tired of these injuries happening and having to go through extensive rehab almost every other season. At this point, if they want a veteran to be in there just to help the rookie then they might just keep Taylor, who knows.

My thoughts are similar here. Marrone idolizes Coughlin. If TC said jump, DM wouldn't even say "how high" he'd just jump until Coughlin told him to stop. I wonder how much influence Coughlin has in terms of coaching. Seems like Marrone wouldn't hesitate to defer to him on anything. I feel like Marrone fell into a pretty favorable situation. Jags have had early round picks for the last five or six years, those players are finally playing as advertised. Plus, much like his time in Buffalo, he's enjoying a successful defense with a nasty DL. Can both teams lose the AFC Championship? That'd be super.

I'll take the wait and see approach. I like that he's worked under Belichick, who actually hired him twice. Plus, rumor had it he would've been the guy to replace McDaniels if/when he takes a HC gig. He and McDermott go back so I'm sure that came into play with how much emphasis McDermott places on his staff all being on the same page. I'm not gonna worry too much about his track record as an NFL OC considering the QBs he had and the coaches he worked under. Clean slate here with McDermott. Hopefully he can do what some other OCs have done and merge some of the college stuff with the pro stuff to make the transition from college to the pros a bit smoother for whichever QB they draft. Also hope he understands how to evaluate and identify what his players naturally excel at and create a system based around that. It doesn't hurt that he's been a part of several championship staffs and had (probably) the best ever NFL and college coach hire him. We'll see how it goes.

For the record, I don't think Carucci said McCoy turned them down, he just said he had a source tell him McCoy will not be their choice. So the more likely scenario is that they already know what McCoy's about based on last year's interview and are not interested in pursuing him.

There shouldn't be any doubt that Whaley had a strong eye for talent. Where I think he fell short was his team-building philosophy. I don't think he prioritized chemistry in the locker room. And I believe he did his best to provide his coaches the types of players they wanted but I also think he very much wanted his coaches to know that he got to make the final call. Probably why he has friction with both Marrone and Ryan. And he also fell short in believing that drafting players from winning programs, players accustomed to winning regularly would carry over to the professional level and help change the culture. Instead, he ended up with rosters full of pretty talented players who really didn't know how to unify and come together and develop ways to overcome adversity. McDermott has enjoyed early success because he's built a team of players who share similar mindsets. Players who just wanna win above all else, players that will be accountable and play for the guy next to them, players that put the team first and come in ready to do their job. The next step, I hope, is that they can start to develop a little swagger.

McAdoo lost his locker room and divided his team before the halfway point of the season. Not sure his style/personality would fit in with the staff here. I could be wrong and the guy could be one of those dudes that's a great coordinator but never gonna be a great HC. But for a team that's preaching unity and brotherhood, hiring a guy who made players wanna flat out quit on him may not be the best idea. I wonder if they talk with Rob Boras at all. Not saying that choice would get me hyped as his time as the Rams OC wasn't great but you never know. I think he did well in his role as TE coach this season. He really helped O'Leary emerge as a decent #2 TE.

I agree. I'm not a big fan of Culley. He's bounced around on a lot of teams but hasn't ever really coached or developed any big time QBs.

The Bucs! Nah, those things are hideous. I like the Vikings unis except for the font they chose for the jersey numbers. As a kid I liked the Bengals with the orange and black. Saints black alternates are nice, same goes for the Ravens black alternates. I like the Panthers light blue alternate jerseys. Wish they'd make those their standard home jerseys. Hate to admit it cause it's the Phins but those dark aqua green throwbacks look great. Raiders alternates with the white jersey and silver numbers. Seattle and their "see it from space" neon green alternates. I'm sure I could think of more, I'm a uniform and logo nerd.

Does the Rooney Rule apply to assistants? I thought it was just for HCs a s GMs.

I don't have anything against Mayfield, I just don't think he fits the MO of what they're looking for in a QB. Beane has described his ideal QB as a guy with prototypical size (so like 6'3"-6'5" and 225 lbs) who can routinely make plays from the pocket. That isn't exactly Mayfield's game. This isn't my first choice but I think Mason Rudolph probably checks a lot of boxes for them. He needs some work (as they all do) but it wouldn't surprise me to see them draft him. If they are as enamored with Darnold as the rumors state, they better be hitting the phones hard and trying to work out a monster deal to move up.

I genuinely hope so. Took an OL that looked very solid in '15 & '16, an OL with a couple of Pro Bowlers and this season turned them into a subpar inconsistent unit. Missing Glenn may have affected that but aside from that I think it's clear that the zone stuff is not a strong suit for the current OL group.

I think he's confusing DeFilippo and Reich... JD is the QB coach in Philly and Reich is the OC. Perhaps he thought JD was OC. Reich is technically realistic but it would be a lateral move for him and he's probably waiting for a HC opportunity. Maybe he'd come here since he's familiar and it's near his hometown but I dunno, they got a good thing going in Philly...as long as Wentz is healthy.

Alex Van Pelt intrigues me. Was OC in GB for a little bit but has been Rodgers' QB coach for the last few years now. Would be a great guy to help develop a young QB.

r/iamverysmart

Going back to 2015 when they brought Roman in, they've emphasized so much on the run game that the passing game seems neglected. It's simplified, there's not a lot creativity involved and their route concepts aren't difficult for defenses to guard against. Combine that with a QB who 90% of the time doesn't throw it unless he sees his guy open and these are the kind of stats you end up with. McDermott didn't exactly give Dennison a vote of confidence during the season-ending press conference. I also wouldn't be surprised if he isn't exactly thrilled with the job WR coach Phil McGeoghan has done... or Juan Castillo... If they're going to draft and develop a guy, I don't see any use in replacing Taylor with a different bridge QB that's likely to cost more money and may not even be an upgrade. Get an OC that knows how to scheme around his players. Let TT do his thing for next season while the rookie learns and then move on in 2019 and have the OC tailor the offense to the new starter.

Bridgewater is an intriguing option. He certainly possesses the character and leadership qualities McBeane appreciate. He's an extremely hard worker as well. However, I think Beane really wants a QB with prototypical size because as he's said before, QBs who succeed can regularly deliver the ball from the pocket. As we've seen, Taylor's size is not ideal for a pocket passer. Bridgewater has maybe an inch or two in height over Taylor but he too is a guy you'd have to use shotgun and a lot of deep drops so he can see more of the field. Tyler Bray... Didn't even know that guy was still in the league. Doubt they have any interest. Bradford...eh, maybe. But does he wanna be "the guy" somewhere or is he gonna be alright knowing he's going to be a bridge/mentor for a rookie. McCarron is an interesting name, pretty unproven though. I don't like the idea of handing the keys to Peterman while their rookie sits and learns. Gonna be an interesting off-season.

I suppose these are fair points but there are only 32 offensive coordinator jobs available in like, the world. They would most definitely have interest from a number of candidates if they decided to move on from Dennison. Some OC's would see these "barriers" as a challenge and want to come in and be the guy who turns the offense around which could put his name on the radar for a head coaching job down the line. I also can't imagine that McDermott is truly satisfied with the job Dennison did this year. Surely, they had some limitations on offense but they could have done a lot better had Dennison designed a scheme based around what the players excel at as opposed to trying to fit players in a scheme that doesn't maximize their talent. Plus, Dennison was what, the third OC McDermott offered the job to? And now his first choice Mike McCoy is available. That was the OC I wanted but he went to Denver and as we saw, things did not go well there so, how good is he? Was his success more a product of having Peyton Manning to work with for a couple seasons? I wonder what the offensive stats were when he was HC of the Chargers where he had Rivers. Because if he wasn't very successful there with a franchise QB then I don't know how well he would do with a rookie or a veteran bridge guy. I dunno... you'd think it'd be a little easier to find an OC that can scheme around his players as opposed to having to shuffle the offensive roster so it fits what the current OC wants to do. Simpler to replace one coach rather than a bunch of players.

Right now I would say KB, Zay and Thompson. They just re-signed Streater to a futures contract and he was having a good camp and likely would've made the 53 so we'll see if he comes through. Wouldn't count out them drafting one. Matthews is up in the air, he fits the profile of the kind of persona they want in the locker room but it'll depend on the type of money he's looking for. Who knows after that.

Roman = great run game designer but his passing schemes are very elementary and easy to defend. On top of that, his playbook is probably the largest in the league. And then you combine that with Rex's defensive playbook and the '15/'16 Bills basically had encyclopedias for playbooks. Coaches always talk about not thinking and playing fast. When your playbook is ginormous and includes multiple variations of the same play being run out of different formations, it makes it that much more difficult for players to digest the information and then apply it to the field, commit it to mental and muscle memory and then play fast. Leslie Frazier proved that this year. He runs a much more simplified/straightforward scheme and for the most part the defense was much better than it was under Rex. They need better talent in the front seven and they could be a very good unit. Anthony Lynn on the other hand, I feel like he did a pretty good job in 2016 considering he had to use someone else's playbook. He was smart to sit down with the offense and trim down the playbook to the things they did best and make it a little more streamlined, but of course he was limited in installing his own designs because it's pretty difficult to switch offensive (or defensive) styles with the regular season underway. Teams spend all off-season and camp installing/learning/practicing certain schemes, can't just flip everything over to an entirely different system after all that. That's all I'm asking for in 2018, an OC who will design a system that will maximize what his players are naturally good at. And an OL coach who does the same.

I watched most of the game with the volume turned down because I actually grew tired of Romo pretty quickly this season. And Nantz is a bum, IMO. I also think Collinsworth is off his rocker. Romo gets ahead of himself and ends up saying some things that sound pretty dumb in hindsight. When Buffalo lined up to kick a FG on 4th & 2, Romo said, "Buffalo may as well take the delay of game penalty here and save a timeout, five extra yards at this part of the field is nothing for a kicker." My immediate thought was, "How's about no? Maybe Jacksonville will jump offsides and if they do, that's a first down. If they take a delay of game penalty, it's 4th & 7 and a five yard offsides penalty brings them back to 4th & 2." What happened? Jacksonville jumped offsides and gave Buffalo a first down. I dunno, it's probably just me but commentators get on my nerves after a while. I'm sure they're directed to do these things but they always try and make every little situation sound so dramatic and "game changing" when in reality it's just another play in the game. And yes, it sucked to see Thompson flying downfield and Taylor just not seeing him. He also had Clay right in front of him early in the game on a play where he rolled right and ended up throwing it away. He would've had to thrown it back across his body a little bit but it's a throw most QBs can see and make. He did not play well yesterday, bottom line. The passes he did complete were mostly inaccurate with poor ball placement, forcing his receivers to slow up, twist/turn back, get low to grab it, he zipped a bullet at Zay that was 12 feet over his head. That ball placement stuff sounds like ticky-tack draft talk but in reality it's one of the more important traits for a QB to be good at because poor ball placement eliminates the chance for the receiver to gain YAC. He overthrew Thompson, he overthrew O'Leary, these were plays that could've swung the game their way. I place some blame on him, I also place some on Rick Dennison for being a very non-creative OC. An OC who doesn't maximize the talent of his players, an OC who doesn't evaluate what his players do best and design his scheme around that. I also wanna throw Juan Castillo under the bus because he took a decent OL and made them look terrible for most of the season. This is an OL that really excelled in Greg Roman's system and he combines all types of blocking schemes but mainly uses man on man, power and pulling style stuff. 2015 and 2016 showed us that clearly this OL was good at that. Last year, PFF had Shady near or at the top of their list for yards gained before contact. That's on the OL. They were opening up massive lanes in 2016. This year, it was like they couldn't get out of their own way. Shady went from a system where he usually had a clear lane to get through, to a system that gave him little space to work with and coaches that coached him to take the "3 yards and a cloud of dust" if it was there. I'll put some of the negative runs on Shady but some also need to go on the OL and the scheme because every game there were at least a few plays where defenders were coming in unblocked (untouched in some cases) and dropping Shady for 5 yard losses. Not retaining Aaron Kromer was a misfire on McDermott's part for me. Kromer had that OL playing great, now he's in LA and what happened this season? Todd Gurley was electric, had plenty of space to run and the Rams sent two OL to the Pro Bowl (Whitworth and Saffold, I believe). Wood and Incognito went last year. Not this year, tho. I guess I'll just never understand coaches who favor their system over designing a system around what your players do best. It's that, or Dennison just isn't creative/smart enough to identify what his guys do well and scheme up plays based on that. Get a young, creative mind in there at OC. Someone who can relate to whichever QB they get and knows how to design plays that'll maximize what his players do well. And I'm like 94% sure that this front office is not going to drop $15-$20 million on another bridge QB like Alex Smith or Sam Bradford, or whoever else may be available. They've spoken too much about building through the draft and developing homegrown talent. If they do sign a veteran QB, I expect it to be a guy who's been mostly a backup but has started here and there. I guess it depends on what they decide to do with the OC. But they aren't backing up the Brinks truck for Cousins or anyone else. They especially aren't going to pay out a ton of guaranteed money to a QB who may only play here for a season or two. My best guess is they make a move in the draft to get one of the better QBs, sign a veteran and let them battle it out with Peterman in camp. Or I could be completely wrong. Who knows. But it sure is a poopy Monday knowing your team definitely had a chance to win a playoff game against an extremely overhyped and overrated Jacksonville team. Good defense? Yes. Are they an '85 Bears-level defense? Not even close. (And I only mentioned that because I've read or heard a talking head or three try to compare them to the 85 Bears and 2000 Ravens). Had the easiest schedule in the league and still only won one more game than the Bills. End rant. Go Steelers.